Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Nice! We complement our orientation (don't like calling it training) with a handbook they can keep and doodle in. I also do a (check in) review in a month's time to see if there are questions. Because we change so often, whether that's sites or people, we don't really formalise anything as such. It keeps it casual and welcomes people of all levels of interest and knowledge.
Hope that helps.
Catarina RAD Bikes, Christchurch NZ
On Wed, 8 Mar 2017 at 9:17 AM, Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 <(503)%20568-1938> Personal: 510-996-8655 <(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn matthew@therecyclery.org wrote:
The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 <(503)%20568-1938> Personal: 510-996-8655 <(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner ashooner@gmail.com wrote:
Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn matthew@therecyclery.org wrote:
The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 <(503)%20568-1938> Personal: 510-996-8655 <(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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-- Matthew McMunn -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- http://therecyclery.org/ Facebook @TheRecyclery Twitter @RecycleryChi Instagram @TheRecyclery
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Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn matthew@therecyclery.org wrote:
Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner ashooner@gmail.com wrote:
Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn matthew@therecyclery.org wrote:
The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 <(503)%20568-1938> Personal: 510-996-8655 <(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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-- Matthew McMunn -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- http://therecyclery.org/ Facebook @TheRecyclery Twitter @RecycleryChi Instagram @TheRecyclery
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I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner ashooner@gmail.com wrote:
Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn matthew@therecyclery.org wrote:
Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner ashooner@gmail.com wrote:
Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org
wrote:
The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin tom@rosewoodbikes.org wrote:
I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 <(503)%20568-1938> Personal: 510-996-8655 <(510)%20996-8655>
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto:jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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-- Matthew McMunn -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ Facebook @TheRecyclery Twitter @RecycleryChi Instagram @TheRecyclery
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I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5... https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto:jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about
our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something
to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevC w7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
The ThinkTank mailing List <a href="http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/ thethinktank-bikecollectives.org <http://lists.bikecollectives. org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe from this list</a>
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-- Matthew McMunn -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ Facebook @TheRecyclery Twitter @RecycleryChi Instagram @TheRecyclery
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This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about how
to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones
with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars danceswithcars@gmail.com wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like
about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be
something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevC w7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto:jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
The ThinkTank mailing List <a href="http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinkt ank-bikecollectives.org <http://lists.bikecollectives. org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bikecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe from this list</a>
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Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars danceswithcars@gmail.com wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like
about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be
something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevC w7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org
wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto:jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars danceswithcars@gmail.com wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5... < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5...
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead
of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars danceswithcars@gmail.com wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5... < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5...
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about how
to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones
with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the
makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars <danceswithcars@gmail.com
wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Cool Momoko! Thanks, and filled out.
So I thought Josh's list covered the basics well enough that I decided to use it as a rough template for our staff manual. We're still documenting long term practices that have until now been more or less oral tradition, and this was a great boost. Thanks Josh!
N
Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social > Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
On 2017-03-10 19:15, momoko saunders wrote:
Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead
of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the
makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be
wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door --
like ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars <danceswithcars@gmail.com
wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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did... not... mean.. to...send... whole...document... -_-*
ugh, sorry guys. Well, now that that happened, comments and criticism are very welcome. Remember, this was written with an attempt at our staff manual in mind, not as a lecture to the mailing list.
It doesn't gather all of the nuances, but it's a rough draft.
Sorry Greg! I meant to email this to you before publishing it here 9_9
(Greg is Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles' co-director, gregdov@gmail.com)
Again, sorry for flooding, Nicholas
On 2017-03-11 00:20, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Cool Momoko! Thanks, and filled out.
So I thought Josh's list covered the basics well enough that I decided to use it as a rough template for our staff manual. We're still documenting long term practices that have until now been more or less oral tradition, and this was a great boost. Thanks Josh!
N
Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social > Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
On 2017-03-10 19:15, momoko saunders wrote:
Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead
of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right
because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the
makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be
wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door --
like ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars <danceswithcars@gmail.com
wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Nicholas, that was some pretty good info, and IMO worth "flooding" the list with.
To respond to Josh, one thing our org does to address the last two points is to pay for an annual anti-oppression training workshop for the board and all staff.
(This may not work as well for non-hierarchical, staff-based, and/or less well-funded organisations, but could potentially be adapted to those situations. E.g. anti-O training can be run by an internal volunteer facilitator, and made available to all dedicated and interested volunteers.)
On 10 March 2017 at 16:53, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
did... not... mean.. to...send... whole...document... -_-*
ugh, sorry guys. Well, now that that happened, comments and criticism are very welcome. Remember, this was written with an attempt at our staff manual in mind, not as a lecture to the mailing list.
It doesn't gather all of the nuances, but it's a rough draft.
Sorry Greg! I meant to email this to you before publishing it here 9_9
(Greg is Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles' co-director, gregdov@gmail.com)
Again, sorry for flooding, Nicholas
On 2017-03-11 00:20, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Cool Momoko! Thanks, and filled out.
So I thought Josh's list covered the basics well enough that I decided to use it as a rough template for our staff manual. We're still documenting long term practices that have until now been more or less oral tradition, and this was a great boost. Thanks Josh!
N
Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social > Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
On 2017-03-10 19:15, momoko saunders wrote:
Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the
makings of a phd thesis right there.
I would very much like to read that thesis plz.
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead
of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars <danceswithcars@gmail.com > wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing < https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing >
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto: ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn <matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < https://diy.org/skills%3E.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto: jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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Okay folks, the Github account has been started. Clone/Bug Report/Fork away!
Thanks again Josh, for the boost and inspiration. Do you want better attribution for your input? Last name? Nickname? Organization?
-Nicholas Co-Director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles
On 2017-03-11 02:17, Kieran O'Neill wrote:
Nicholas, that was some pretty good info, and IMO worth "flooding" the list with.
To respond to Josh, one thing our org does to address the last two points is to pay for an annual anti-oppression training workshop for the board and all staff.
(This may not work as well for non-hierarchical, staff-based, and/or less well-funded organisations, but could potentially be adapted to those situations. E.g. anti-O training can be run by an internal volunteer facilitator, and made available to all dedicated and interested volunteers.)
On 10 March 2017 at 16:53, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
did... not... mean.. to...send... whole...document... -_-*
ugh, sorry guys. Well, now that that happened, comments and criticism are very welcome. Remember, this was written with an attempt at our staff manual in mind, not as a lecture to the mailing list.
It doesn't gather all of the nuances, but it's a rough draft.
Sorry Greg! I meant to email this to you before publishing it here 9_9
(Greg is Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles' co-director, gregdov@gmail.com)
Again, sorry for flooding, Nicholas
On 2017-03-11 00:20, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Cool Momoko! Thanks, and filled out.
So I thought Josh's list covered the basics well enough that I decided to use it as a rough template for our staff manual. We're still documenting long term practices that have until now been more or less oral tradition, and this was a great boost. Thanks Josh!
N
Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social > Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
On 2017-03-10 19:15, momoko saunders wrote:
Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be
wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door --
like ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture
> >
..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it...
> >
SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done instead of emailing the Think Tank ;) Xoxoxox
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com wrote:
Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have the > > makings of a phd thesis right there. > > I would very much like to read that thesis plz. > > On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com > wrote: > > This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my > question > slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a > different > issue > than the one I intended. > > Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the > shop? > *I > mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people > who > just > want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core > bottom-liners > learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, > learning, > respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches > to > share? > > For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do > things > like: > > - Greet drop-in patrons > - Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, > instead > of > leaving patrons to their own devices > - Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them > appropriately > - Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them > about > how to do repairs > - Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding > their > work > - Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety > - Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be > wrong > - Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- > like > ones with no brakes connected > - Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement > versus > repair > - Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with > patrons > - Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons > > > Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with > mechanics > in > community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get > it" > and > it > sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to > "get > it?" > Or > do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically > woke, > naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our > workshops? > I'm > pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it > to > work > itself out -- so help me out: what do we got? > > Josh > > On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars > <danceswithcars@gmail.com > > > wrote: > > send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. > Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it... > > Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. > Differences between founders, board members, > paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a > coop as community shop. > > Shared decision making, > not just ram thru an agenda > so that they can go drink. > Established places with history and traditions, > some written, is different from a startup. > > > Youth and other variations such as > mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, > tech supporting a group ride, etc give a > mini how it works, what's required, and > built in developing leading experience, > imnsho. > > > > On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote: > > I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I > like > about > our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It > used > to > be > always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we > work" > info > consolidating in one person's head. > > > Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I > get > a > little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of > being > seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop). > > All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so > our > current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need > today, and > here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're > interested." We > do > intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so > we'll > probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, > and > we'll > probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let > them > get > back to us. > > Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit > different > temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is > empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill > sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with > volunteers > who > lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal > skills. > One > of > our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance > of > unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward > the > volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to > quietly > and > silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only > get > things > done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your > operation's > substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature > of > the > materials in mind. > > I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be > something > to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange. > > > I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just > kind > of > happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The > main > obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some > kind > of > exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important > program > IMHO. > > Nicholas > co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles > Ithaca, NY > > > On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote: > > At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we > only > have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only > with > paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally > "in > charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is > ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want > more-qualified > volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights > first, > or have taken our cycling mechanics courses. > > Our board member guide can be viewed here: > > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw > 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing > < > https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw > 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing > > > > Additional links: > mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ > http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ > drop-in volunteer day: > http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ > http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ > > Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed > regarding volunteer training. > > Jean-François > > On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org > wrote: > > I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I > like > about > our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It > used > to > be > always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we > work" > info > consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the > responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers > get a > refresher of the rules. > > We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic > things > one can do to volunteer. > > Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the > beginning > of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop. > > -momoko > > On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner > <ashooner@gmail.com > mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: > Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it > attaches > to > volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know > who > has > been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and > business-type > tasks) has been one of our challenges. > > On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn > <matthew@therecyclery.org > mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: > Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called > VTracklery. In > the > short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles > to > help > us > with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system > online. One > of > our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this > project > as > her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank > conversation. > > On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com > mailto: ashooner@gmail.com>> wrote: > Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a > tracking/software > component to this pathway system? > > Andy > Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop > Lexington, KY > > On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn > <matthew@therecyclery.org > mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: > The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for > Volunteer > Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" > system. It > includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing > Your > Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new > person get > involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on > developing > a > "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < > https://diy.org/skills%3E. > > On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org > mailto: tom@rosewoodbikes.org>> wrote: > I'm interested in this as well. > > So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff > positions > (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; > ride > lead; > outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and > processes > too. > > Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the > entire > org, > and the community bike shop will need to have its own training. > > I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be > something > to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange. > > Tom Martin > Rosewood Bikes > Program Director > 16126 SE Stark > Portland OR, 97233 > Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 > Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655 > > On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com > mailto: jbisker@gmail.com>> wrote: > Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with > patrons? > What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what > makes > your > approach sparkle? > > Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm > realizing > that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how > to > help > and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has > little-to-no > collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop > does > and > how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. > I > think > that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a > baseline > of > expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should > have > someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird > hierarchy > thing > where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to > NYC?) > For > the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective > wisdom > about > shop roles and how to embody them. > > xox - Josh > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > -- > Matthew McMunn > -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- > http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ > Facebook @TheRecyclery > Twitter @RecycleryChi > Instagram @TheRecyclery > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > -- > Matthew McMunn > -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- > http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ > Facebook @TheRecyclery > Twitter @RecycleryChi > Instagram @TheRecyclery > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > < > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a > href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org > ">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a href=" > http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi > kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > > > ____________________________________
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OOPS! Here's the address: https://github.com/RecycleIthacasBicycles
N
On 2017-03-15 14:38, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Okay folks, the Github account has been started. Clone/Bug Report/Fork away!
Thanks again Josh, for the boost and inspiration. Do you want better attribution for your input? Last name? Nickname? Organization?
-Nicholas Co-Director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles
On 2017-03-11 02:17, Kieran O'Neill wrote:
Nicholas, that was some pretty good info, and IMO worth "flooding" the list with.
To respond to Josh, one thing our org does to address the last two points is to pay for an annual anti-oppression training workshop for the board and all staff.
(This may not work as well for non-hierarchical, staff-based, and/or less well-funded organisations, but could potentially be adapted to those situations. E.g. anti-O training can be run by an internal volunteer facilitator, and made available to all dedicated and interested volunteers.)
On 10 March 2017 at 16:53, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
did... not... mean.. to...send... whole...document... -_-*
ugh, sorry guys. Well, now that that happened, comments and criticism are very welcome. Remember, this was written with an attempt at our staff manual in mind, not as a lecture to the mailing list.
It doesn't gather all of the nuances, but it's a rough draft.
Sorry Greg! I meant to email this to you before publishing it here 9_9
(Greg is Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles' co-director, gregdov@gmail.com)
Again, sorry for flooding, Nicholas
On 2017-03-11 00:20, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Cool Momoko! Thanks, and filled out.
So I thought Josh's list covered the basics well enough that I decided to use it as a rough template for our staff manual. We're still documenting long term practices that have until now been more or less oral tradition, and this was a great boost. Thanks Josh!
N
Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social > Work with participants to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving participants to their own devices.
ask: "What are you hoping to get done today?" and: "How much time are you hoping to spend?" and: "What is the main kind of riding you want to do?"
This helps staff cultivate overall situational awareness, as well as setting the template for the task. Let the participant know what kind of time (or money) requirements the work they need involves.
Check in on participants' levels of skill, and work with them appropriately.
ask: "Do you have any personal or professional mechanic experience?" and: "How much help do you want?"
This sets the stage for respecting the competency and agency of the individual while establishing the path for help.
Balance putting-the-tools-in-participants'-hands with instructing them about how to do repairs.
In open shop, for an inexperience participant the first repair of a specific component should to be performed as a demonstration by the facilitator, with detailed description and encouragement for questions. This demonstration is helpful because remote-controlling an inexperienced participant's hands with words is frustrating and cumbersome for both facilitator and participant, and many people learn physical skills much better by observing actions rather than memorizing words. Observing the participant's attention is crucial to determine if they seem to be understanding.
asking: "Does this make sense?"
may be helpful. Assert that questions are welcome, and in fact encouraged. This doesn't mean the first repair of the entire bike is done by the facilitator; for instance, the facilitator may tighten one brake caliper, while the participant tightens the second one, under supervision. Sometimes, manually demonstrating a principle is enough, and the participant can use that principle to undertake the task by themselves; for instance pointing out the numbers on a tire pump gauge and the recommended pressure lettering on the side of a tire sets the stage for someone to inflate the tire by themselves. The end goal is always the autonomy of the participant.
Balance granting participants the freedom to fail while also guiding their work.
This often involves pretending not to be paying attention - though of course facilitators should always be paying attention. In a busy environment, the necessity for dividing time among multiple participants often provides easy cover for this manufactured autonomy. Always be aware of participant's energy, stress, and interest/boredom levels, regardless of whether you are directly interacting or pretending to be busy elsewhere - or actually being busy elsewhere.
Check out participants' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety.
When a participant brings in their own bike, it cannot be the requirement of the shop that the participant's bicycle not leave the premises unless safe, for obvious reasons. However, bikes built on-site and bikes sold on-site must be inspected by staff cleared for safety inspections before leaving the premises. Facilitators will, at some remove, always be passively auditing what parts of a participant's bicycle work is being done on and tactfully intervening accordingly.
Check out participants' bikes for other things that can be wrong.
Provided the participant has not identified themselves as competent and autonomous, inspection of the bike should be encouraged during introductions, though left optional and phrased as a question.
ask: "Would you like me to look over your bike to see if there are any other areas needing attention?"
All work, whether the participant's expected work or expanded work, has to be balanced out with the time the participant is willing to spend and any safety hazards posed by delayed or defrayed work. This can be a tricky area expectation-wise, as many people think something simple is their problem when in fact there is a more complicated or dangerous issue. Again, let the participant know as early as possible what kind of time (or money) requirement the work they need involves.
Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like ones with no brakes connected.
Bikes brought in by participants cannot be controlled by the shop. But it is the job of facilitators to clearly inform participants of unsafe conditions in their bicycles. Participants sometimes take exception to being told whether something they own is hazardous or not, it might be likened to a cigarette smoker's aversion to being lectured on the dangers of smoking or a teenager's aversion to be lectured on their quality of judgement. Facilitators are empowered with the prerogative to make themselves heard where issues of serious safety lapses are concerned, though of course for bikes brought in by a participant, the ultimate decision regarding what to do about any safety issue rests with that participant.
Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus repair.
This kind of appraisal can happen liberally anywhere that safety is a concern - plastic brake levers, for instance. Where safety is not in question, this can happen as part of the ongoing conversation with a participant. In many cases this can be a way to get the participant to be more invested in and excited about their bike, as often they will come in unaware that reconfigurability is a feature.
Facilitators must alway temper their view of a participant's bike with the kinds of experiences the participant has stated they want from it. Don't try to persuade a mountain bike rider to give up trails, trade out their knobbies for slicks, and become urban cyclists, or try to persuade commuters to take up cyclocross and convert their hybrids or road bikes into some more trail-appropriate machine. Unless told otherwise, trust that the participant has a vision for the kind of riding they want to do, and tailor enhancement suggestions accordingly.
ask: "Do you want some recommendations for upgrades?" or: "Do you want my recommendations for this bike?" or: "I think there are some options you might find interesting. Should I suggest them?"
Embody anti-oppression ethics for engagement with participants.
A shared learning environment is about extension of power, which inherently contradicts oppression. The principle should be maintained that as long as safety is taken into consideration, each participant is worthy of and entitled to the knowledge offered.
Deflect overbearing, condescending, or crude behavior, reframe the interaction. Abusive, bigoted, violent, or extremely disruptive behavior can be confronted. Take the participant aside and say something like:
"This is not how we behave here. You can be respectful and civil, or you can leave."
If the participant will not come aside, confronting them in front of other participants is okay. Once they've left, sincerely apologize to everyone, make sure everyone's project is on track, and leave people to process the disruption in their own ways unless further discussion is requested.
Promote feminism in their engagement with participants.
Always maintain awareness that millennia of social norms which consistently excluded women from autonomy, education, ownership of property, and industry is conditioning that bears upon us all, whether born male or female, and that this shapes our impressions of women's capabilities and aptitudes, even at a subconscious level. Positive actions are required to reverse this paradigm, and in a shop environment this means, in part, giving women the benefit of the doubt where a question of competence is concerned, assuming nothing regarding what they can or cannot do, do or do not have an affinity for, and do or do not understand. In short, be aware of what experience you offer women, and make certain that it truly is equivalent in quality to what men might be offered in the same setting.
On 2017-03-10 19:15, momoko saunders wrote:
Josh,
I really enjoy your list of actions you are looking for. As I look at it, I think I want these things too. But I wonder if everyone else does. I made a survey of your points, which I have sent to my collective, to see what people most value. Here's a link to one that the think tank could fill out https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5NV89RK. I also asked if there's values held, which are not listed.
Seems we need to first check in that everyone wants to achieve the same shop culture. Then, I'd imagine that you'd just talk about how to achieve it. I think one of the hardest things to do would be to tell someone, that they are not successfully doing the thing. But honest and some times critical feed back would be part of everyone learning how to achieve these goals.
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues,
instead of leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them
about how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding
their work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be
wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door --
like ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement
versus repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 2:51 AM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
Thanks for your list! I think in a way you are kind of answering your own question.
I always had this idea (are you coming from here?) that a co-op or a collective, in order to be radically inclusive, has to find a place for anyone and everyone who wants one, and it is the organization's job to format itself correctly so that everyone can be plugged in and somehow "just get it" and harmony happens...
Live in the culture >> >> > ..the magic environment that organically and holistically and naturally formats all behavior just right. Sometimes, this does happen when the place has around 6-20 people in attendance who are already formatted right - because new people sense the requirements socially. Critical social mass, peer pressure. Energy and osmosis. Convenient, intuitive, and natural. But it only works when that critical social mass is present. Pare your attendance down to 1-4 people, and this pathway breaks down badly.
After many years in these kinds of environments, I think that radical inclusion -of literally anyone who wants to commit to core reliability- can only work reliably if there is one or more people in an executive position always willing to coordinate and pick up slack and make rulings regarding inconsistencies and conflicts. That's a lot of centralization. In my experience, radically inclusive, take-them-all, fully collective consensus based volunteer organizations can only last for a few years. Without presidents and directors and boards and managers or such, they break down.
Assuming you want a more decentralized power structure, I think you have to be selective and use an interview process of some kind. After that you just train people like in any other job: "Here's what we do, learn it." and then we're back at the particulars of the excellent foci you yourself just posted, and training sessions for core people, which other people have pointed out. Whether it's a collective or a business, these are still positions, and people who want the position have to agree and train to fulfill those requirements.
As for particulars, we'll get our scripts up on Github along with everything else about our organization at some point. In the meantime, the only standout one I can offer is this: when considering new core people, ask "Is this person a good teacher?"
Honestly to me that has to be the best indicator.
may be better than lectured about it... >> >> > SORRY THIS WAS SO MUCH TEXT
N
On 2017-03-10 05:14, Josh Bisker wrote:
> Jfc Angel it is all I can do to get my actual schoolwork done > instead > of > emailing the Think Tank ;) > Xoxoxox > > > On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 11:26 PM Angel York aniola@gmail.com > wrote: > > Have you considered doing a thesis? For real. I think you have > the >> >> makings of a phd thesis right there. >> >> I would very much like to read that thesis plz. >> >> On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 10:46 AM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com >> wrote: >> >> This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my >> question >> slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a >> different >> issue >> than the one I intended. >> >> Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the >> shop? >> *I >> mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people >> who >> just >> want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core >> bottom-liners >> learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, >> learning, >> respected, and supported? And do you have materials or >> approaches to >> share? >> >> For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do >> things >> like: >> >> - Greet drop-in patrons >> - Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, >> instead >> of >> leaving patrons to their own devices >> - Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them >> appropriately >> - Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing >> them >> about >> how to do repairs >> - Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also >> guiding >> their >> work >> - Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety >> - Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be >> wrong >> - Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- >> like >> ones with no brakes connected >> - Address issues of parts quality for recommending >> replacement >> versus >> repair >> - Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with >> patrons >> - Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons >> >> >> Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with >> mechanics >> in >> community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get >> it" >> and >> it >> sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to >> "get >> it?" >> Or >> do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, >> ethically >> woke, >> naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our >> workshops? >> I'm >> pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it >> to >> work >> itself out -- so help me out: what do we got? >> >> Josh >> >> On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars >> <danceswithcars@gmail.com >> > >> wrote: >> >> send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. >> Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it... >> >> Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. >> Differences between founders, board members, >> paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a >> coop as community shop. >> >> Shared decision making, >> not just ram thru an agenda >> so that they can go drink. >> Established places with history and traditions, >> some written, is different from a startup. >> >> >> Youth and other variations such as >> mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, >> tech supporting a group ride, etc give a >> mini how it works, what's required, and >> built in developing leading experience, >> imnsho. >> >> >> >> On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote: >> >> I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I >> like >> about >> our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It >> used >> to >> be >> always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we >> work" >> info >> consolidating in one person's head. >> >> >> Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! >> I get >> a >> little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary >> of >> being >> seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop). >> >> All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, >> so our >> current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need >> today, and >> here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're >> interested." We >> do >> intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, >> so >> we'll >> probably implement a list that interested people can choose >> from, and >> we'll >> probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let >> them >> get >> back to us. >> >> Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit >> different >> temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is >> empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill >> sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with >> volunteers >> who >> lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal >> skills. >> One >> of >> our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in >> observance of >> unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward >> the >> volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to >> quietly >> and >> silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only >> get >> things >> done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your >> operation's >> substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature >> of >> the >> materials in mind. >> >> I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be >> something >> to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange. >> >> >> I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just >> kind >> of >> happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The >> main >> obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up >> some kind >> of >> exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important >> program >> IMHO. >> >> Nicholas >> co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles >> Ithaca, NY >> >> >> On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote: >> >> At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we >> only >> have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only >> with >> paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not >> generally "in >> charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training >> is >> ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want >> more-qualified >> volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights >> first, >> or have taken our cycling mechanics courses. >> >> Our board member guide can be viewed here: >> >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw >> 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing >> < >> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw >> 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing >> > >> >> Additional links: >> mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ >> http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ >> drop-in volunteer day: >> http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ >> http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ >> >> Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have >> changed >> regarding volunteer training. >> >> Jean-François >> >> On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders >> analyst@bikefarm.org >> wrote: >> >> I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I >> like >> about >> our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It >> used >> to >> be >> always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we >> work" >> info >> consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the >> responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers >> get a >> refresher of the rules. >> >> We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and >> basic >> things >> one can do to volunteer. >> >> Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the >> beginning >> of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop. >> >> -momoko >> >> On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner >> <ashooner@gmail.com >> mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: >> Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it >> attaches >> to >> volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners >> know who >> has >> been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and >> business-type >> tasks) has been one of our challenges. >> >> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn >> <matthew@therecyclery.org >> mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: >> Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called >> VTracklery. In >> the >> short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles >> to >> help >> us >> with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system >> online. One >> of >> our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this >> project >> as >> her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank >> conversation. >> >> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner >> <ashooner@gmail.com >> mailto: > ashooner@gmail.com>> wrote: >> Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a >> tracking/software >> component to this pathway system? >> >> Andy >> Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop >> Lexington, KY >> >> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn >> <matthew@therecyclery.org >> mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: >> The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for >> Volunteer >> Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" >> system. It >> includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, >> "Choosing Your >> Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new >> person get >> involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on >> developing >> a >> "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills < >> https://diy.org/skills%3E. >> >> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org >> mailto: > tom@rosewoodbikes.org>> wrote: >> I'm interested in this as well. >> >> So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff >> positions >> (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; >> ride >> lead; >> outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and >> processes >> too. >> >> Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the >> entire >> org, >> and the community bike shop will need to have its own training. >> >> I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be >> something >> to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange. >> >> Tom Martin >> Rosewood Bikes >> Program Director >> 16126 SE Stark >> Portland OR, 97233 >> Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 >> Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655 >> >> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com >> mailto: > jbisker@gmail.com>> wrote: >> Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with >> patrons? >> What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what >> makes >> your >> approach sparkle? >> >> Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm >> realizing >> that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how >> to >> help >> and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has >> little-to-no >> collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop >> does >> and >> how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. >> I >> think >> that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a >> baseline >> of >> expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we >> should have >> someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird >> hierarchy >> thing >> where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip >> to >> NYC?) >> For >> the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective >> wisdom >> about >> shop roles and how to embody them. >> >> xox - Josh >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> -- >> Matthew McMunn >> -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- >> http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ >> Facebook @TheRecyclery >> Twitter @RecycleryChi >> Instagram @TheRecyclery >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> -- >> Matthew McMunn >> -Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator- >> http://therecyclery.org/ http://therecyclery.org/ >> Facebook @TheRecyclery >> Twitter @RecycleryChi >> Instagram @TheRecyclery >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> < >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org>">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a >> href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org >> ">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________ >> >> The ThinkTank mailing List >> <a href=" >> http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/thethinktank-bi >> kecollectives.org">Unsubscribe >> from this list</a> >> >> >> > ____________________________________ > > The ThinkTank mailing List > <a > href="http://lists.bikecollectives.org/options.cgi/ > thethinktank-bikecollectives.org">Unsubscribe > from this list</a> > ____________________________________
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Josh wrote;
... how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop?...*
At ocbc we ask only for a time commitment (at least one per month) from Key Volunteers http://ohiocitycycles.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22&Itemid=68 (KV). In general they self-select areas of interest where they want to contribute (retail, off-site programs, shop organization, teaching, etc). They spend some time informally shadowing and helping our staff at first.
We use checklists, How-to guides (demoed at Bike! Bike! 2016), and written policy statements. We'll post ours to the wiki soon; we're still cleaning up some protocols.
For things with an existing How-to guide, new staff and KV follow this sequence: Learn once, do once, co-teach with staff or KV once, then teach -- and always seek feedback from learners, and use it to update the How-to guide.
An open, inquisitive culture that encourages listening in, and welcomes *anyone* to respectfully interject added info in any information exchange (i.e. teaching, bike sale/test ride, assessment, final check) generates an atmosphere that can self-correct the "don't get it" problem. Feedback is not "corrective," but part of a communal knowledge-seeking process.
As Momoko wrote, not every CBO will want to take on this added cultural work, and as others here have noted, not every individual will want to take responsibility for representing the organization, or "running the shop" -- but welcoming anyone to take on as much of it as they wish is a good culture to start with no matter the organizational structure, so you're already well on the way.
Do please write down what you find out in this process -- even if you don't seek that PhD in hands-off pedagogy -- I'm sure others would like to read what you learn, since you are being deliberate about this issue in a new CBO, rather than adapting an already developed culture when you are faced with a need to address it, or just find the time.
Best regards, Jim
Jim Sheehan Executive Director Ohio City Bicycle Co-op 1840 Columbus Rd Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216 830 2667 OhioCityCycles.org jim@ohiocitycycles.org
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 1:46 PM, Josh Bisker jbisker@gmail.com wrote:
This is all great, folks, thanks. That said, I want to hone my question slightly, because most of these responses seem to address a different issue than the one I intended.
Let's try this: how do people in your shop learn *how to run the shop? *I mean the people who are your core bottom-liners, not the people who just want to come in and help out for a day. How do your core bottom-liners learn how to run the shop in a way that keeps everyone safe, learning, respected, and supported? And do you have materials or approaches to share?
For example, how do the people who run your shop know how to do things like:
- Greet drop-in patrons
- Work with them to diagnose and address mechanical issues, instead of
leaving patrons to their own devices
- Check in on patrons' levels of skill, and work with them
appropriately
- Balance putting-the-tools-in-their-hands to instructing them about
how to do repairs
- Balance granting them the freedom to fail while also guiding their
work
- Check out patrons' bikes for the ABCs of mechanical safety
- Check out patrons' bikes for the rest of things that can be wrong
- Intervene if unsafe bikes are about to roll out the door -- like
ones with no brakes connected
- Address issues of parts quality for recommending replacement versus
repair
- Embody anti-oppression ethics in their engagement with patrons
- Promote feminism in their engagement with patrons
Do we leave all this stuff to chance? We've all worked with mechanics in community bike shops (sometimes in our own shops) who "don't get it" and it sucks. What approaches do you have to help people learn how to "get it?" Or do we all end up self-selecting for mechanically savvy, ethically woke, naturally socially supportive young folks to bottom line our workshops? I'm pretty confident that we have a better approach than leaving it to work itself out -- so help me out: what do we got?
Josh
On Thu, Mar 9, 2017 at 8:08 AM, DancesWithCars danceswithcars@gmail.com wrote:
send them to Bike!Bike! South East, even for the day. Live in the culture may be better than lectured about it...
Hierarchy is difficult today get rid of, imnsho. Differences between founders, board members, paid staff, and volunteers isn't as much of a coop as community shop.
Shared decision making, not just ram thru an agenda so that they can go drink. Established places with history and traditions, some written, is different from a startup.
Youth and other variations such as mobile clinics at events like farmers markets, tech supporting a group ride, etc give a mini how it works, what's required, and built in developing leading experience, imnsho.
On Mar 8, 2017 8:34 PM, cyclista@inventati.org wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like
about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head.
Great idea about switching around the orientation point person! I get a little tired of always being the blurb-spewer (also very leary of being seen as some kind of "owner" of the shop).
All of our volunteers are general shop/site helpers right now, so our current orientation is pretty cursory: "Here's what we need today, and here's what we need ongoing. Let us know where you're interested." We do intend to create discrete positions in the near future though, so we'll probably implement a list that interested people can choose from, and we'll probably direct them to it at the end of introductions and let them get back to us.
Ideally the list will have a lot of diversity in it to suit different temperaments. Our emphasis at RIB (other than bicycles 9_9) is empowerment/empathy/understanding through interaction/skill sharing/education, so we tend to have a difficult time with volunteers who lack, or lack an interest in, a strong set of interpersonal skills. One of our ongoing challenges is to sort our workload, and in observance of unavoidable diversity it is useful to do so with an eye toward the volunteers inclined more toward solitude, who may prefer to quietly and silently work on projects more or less asocially. You often only get things done through volunteers - they are a huge part of your operation's substance! It makes sense to design your machine with the nature of the materials in mind.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be
something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
I'm for that. I remember old times when this sort of thing just kind of happened accidentally, it was always great to exchange info. The main obstacle here for us would be funding for travel; setting up some kind of exchange fund for travel expenses would be the most important program IMHO.
Nicholas co-director, Recycle Ithaca's Bicycles Ithaca, NY
On 2017-03-08 17:54, Jean-François Caron wrote:
At the AMS Bike Co-op at the University of British Columbia we only have formal materials for new board members. Our shop runs only with paid mechanics, and non-board-member volunteers are not generally "in charge" of the shop. At drop-in volunteer events the training is ad-hoc, but for some volunteer events where we want more-qualified volunteers we ask that they have been to a few drop-in nights first, or have taken our cycling mechanics courses.
Our board member guide can be viewed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevCw 7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dPiAsYuXLdoeuUlLBRTzevC w7SUKjxvCP6qm71Q5xmg/edit?usp=sharing
Additional links: mechanical courses: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/workshops/ drop-in volunteer day: http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/ http://www.bikecoop.ca/programs/wednesday-volunteer-day/
Disclaimer: I've been gone nearly a year, things may have changed regarding volunteer training.
Jean-François
On Mar 8, 2017, at 11:43 , momoko saunders analyst@bikefarm.org
wrote:
I don't think we have the best system by far... But one thing I like about our system is that we switch who gives volunteer orientation. It used to be always the volunteer coordinator. That resulted in vital "how we work" info consolidating in one person's head. When we started sharing the responsibility of orientation, it helped already core volunteers get a refresher of the rules.
We also print out little info packs on how our org runs and basic things one can do to volunteer.
Also, we read off our mission and safer space agreement at the beginning of an orientation and talk about what that means in the shop.
-momoko
On Wed, Mar 8, 2017 at 6:35 AM, Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Nice! I was looking at your codebase, and saw the 'skills' it attaches to volunteers. Cool idea. As we've grown, letting shift runners know who has been checked out on what tasks (specifically mechanic and business-type tasks) has been one of our challenges.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:12 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: Andrew, Yes. We have a home made software system called VTracklery. In the short term we will be adding features to the volunteer profiles to help us with this. Our longer term goal is to get the whole system online. One of our collective members has expressed interest in taking on this project as her PHD research. I'll make sure she knows about this Think Tank conversation.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:44 PM Andrew Shooner <ashooner@gmail.com mailto:ashooner@gmail.com> wrote: Matthew, that sounds great. Is there going to be a tracking/software component to this pathway system?
Andy Broke Spoke Community Bike Shop Lexington, KY
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 3:40 PM, Matthew McMunn < matthew@therecyclery.org mailto:matthew@therecyclery.org> wrote: The Recyclery in Chicago is working on "Developing Pathways for Volunteer Success" this year. We are designing a "Volunteer Pathways" system. It includes Volunteer Orientation, New Volunteer Training, "Choosing Your Volunteer Pathway," and One on one mentorship to help a new person get involved in their areas of interest. We are also working on developing a "badge" system similar to this one: https://diy.org/skills https://diy.org/skills.
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:17 PM Tom Martin <tom@rosewoodbikes.org mailto:tom@rosewoodbikes.org> wrote: I'm interested in this as well.
So far, Rosewood Bikes has created Volunteer and paid staff positions (guest mechanic; mechanic trainer; shop steward; social media; ride lead; outreach/champion, etc.). Working on shop procedures and processes too.
Rosewood is developing a volunteer training initiative for the entire org, and the community bike shop will need to have its own training.
I wonder if a program exchange or ambassador type thing would be something to think about, for hands on insight and information exchange.
Tom Martin Rosewood Bikes Program Director 16126 SE Stark Portland OR, 97233 Shop: 503-568-1938 tel:(503)%20568-1938 Personal: 510-996-8655 tel:(510)%20996-8655
On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Josh Bisker <jbisker@gmail.com mailto:jbisker@gmail.com> wrote: Give us your best shot: how do you train volunteers to work with patrons? What's the foundation of the training, how's it go, and what makes your approach sparkle?
Context: the Mechanical Gardens is building up momentum and I'm realizing that our volunteer core has different levels of insight into how to help and engage with patrons during open hours. The group has little-to-no collective experience to draw from of what a community bike shop does and how its staff or volunteers approach or conceive of their roles. I think that a volunteer training might be a good way to establish a baseline of expectations for working with patrons. In fact, I think we should have someone else come and run it for us so it's not some weird hierarchy thing where I'm telling everyone how to behave. (Anyone fancy a trip to NYC?) For the meantime, we would benefit greatly from your collective wisdom about shop roles and how to embody them.
xox - Josh
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